Analog Devices (ADI) Upgraded to “Hold” by Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

According to Zacks, “Analog Devices stock has outperformed the industry it belongs to in the past one year. The company continues to benefit from its strength across industrial, automotive and communications markets. Further, the company is currently riding on positive contributions from Linear Technology acquisition. Estimates have been stable lately ahead of the company’s fiscal Q2 earnings release. The company has positive record of earnings surprises in recent quarters. However, the results continues to be impacted by weakness in the consumer end market. Also, declining usage of the company’s products in portable consumer applications is a major headwind. Moreover, macro uncertainty and geopolitical fears remain concerns. Further, rising competitive pressure from Maxim and Texas Instruments poses serious threat to the company’s market position.”

Get Analog Devices alerts:

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ADI. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. BidaskClub cut shares of Analog Devices from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird reissued a buy rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Wednesday, February 20th. Barclays reissued a hold rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Friday, January 18th. Finally, Piper Jaffray Companies reissued a buy rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Analog Devices in a report on Wednesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $105.67.

NASDAQ:ADI traded down $1.93 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $105.96. The stock had a trading volume of 187,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,800,058. Analog Devices has a twelve month low of $76.62 and a twelve month high of $118.54. The company has a market capitalization of $39.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Analog Devices had a net margin of 25.42% and a return on equity of 19.99%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Analog Devices will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, Director Ray Stata sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.54, for a total transaction of $1,075,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 151,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,339,197.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Vincent Roche sold 12,939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.91, for a total transaction of $1,357,430.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 29,395 shares in the company, valued at $3,083,829.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,120 shares of company stock worth $12,114,745 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ADI. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Analog Devices by 8,439.3% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 3,472,596 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 3,431,930 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Analog Devices in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $292,919,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Analog Devices in the first quarter valued at approximately $192,118,000. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Analog Devices in the first quarter valued at approximately $152,676,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in Analog Devices by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,775,405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $667,363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200,683 shares during the last quarter. 91.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.